War – The Art of Deception, Putin and Trudeau
Struthers Report V29 # 8.2
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The weekend events in Russia were very strange with little solid evidence to back up the narrative. What if, the so called coup was staged by Prigozhin and Putin, to send Wagner to Belarus, to later invade Ukraine from the North? Ukraine's best trained troops are deployed to the East and South on the front lines. Belarus is practically a vassal state of Russia and was used previously on the attempt to invade Kyiv. The map below shows how the narrative and news reports played out in this short 22 hour manoeuvre of some sort.
It is practically impossible to move large amounts of troops, military equipment over land or naval forces across the seas without being detected by modern satellites and drones. Deception is a much better war tactic these days. Make it look like your doing one thing while doing another.
An attack from Belarus is not far fetched. On December 7, 2022 Reuters reported - Belarus plans to move military equipment and forces on Wednesday and Thursday in what it said was a counter-terrorism exercise, the latest in a flurry of military actions that have raised fears Russia may mount a new attack on Ukraine from the territory of its ally.
Belarus and Russia are formally part of a "union state" and are closely allied economically and militarily. Russia used Belarus as a staging post for its failed advance on Kyiv, back on Feb. 2022. In October 2022, Lukashenko announced a fresh Russian deployment of 9,000 troops to Belarus as part of a new joint military grouping. In its preliminary budget for 2023, Belarus plans to increase defence spending by over 50%. And we heard on June 13th that Belarus will get Russian tactical nuclear weapons 'in days' . Simply put, Belarus is a strong allay with Russia.
Ukraine has been warning for months that it fears that Belarus and Russia could be planning a new incursion across its northern border. And there has been recent comment on this and the Wagner group. On Sunday The commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Serhii Naiev, states that there is no build-up of Russian equipment or manpower on the northern border of Ukraine. If the Russians try to cross the border from the north, it will be a suicide for them.
Source: Naiev regarding the statements about the possible participation of PMC Wagner in the attack on the territory of Ukraine from Belarus, reports Military Media Center. Quote: "I want to assure everyone that the situation in the northern operating zone remains stable and controlled. Our troops continue to build up their defensive capabilities. All services, from intelligence to engineering troops, are working in an enhanced mode.”
Prighozin's beef was not with Putin, but the Russia military command on how they have been handling the war. Prighozin became rich through his ties to Putin, winning lucrative government contracts while building the Wagner mercenary force. He accused the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the country’s most senior general, Valery Gerasimov, of treason. He said they deliberately withheld ammunition and supplies from Wagner while their troops failed repeatedly in the war. Speaking in an 11-minute audio clip posted on Wagner-affiliated Telegram channels, Prighozin said the uprising was intended to register a protest at the ineffectual conduct of the war in Ukraine, not to overthrow the government in Moscow.
Perhaps the timing of this was invoked on June 10, when Russia's Ministry of Defense ordered all volunteer detachments to sign contracts with the government. Prigozhin refused as it would deprive him of his power base and took his chances on a revolt instead of being forced into insubordination. Was this part of the deception?
I have heard that Prigozhin and many other military leaders are unhappy how the war has been handled. Putin is too conservative as he wants to save civilian lives and keep his political power on the up and up. There is an election in a year. These others want to see a more aggressive war that will put it to a victory and an end.
I could not find any info or insights on how many of the Wagner group went to Belarus. This fits the deception strategy. Putin said June 26th in a televised release that he would let Wagner fighters relocate to Belarus if they wished, sign contracts with the defense ministry, or simply return to their families. The Wagner fighting machine is quite significant. Did 20,000 or so Wagner troops go to Belarus???
Some signals to watch for would be 1 or 2 heads roll in Russia's high war command especially generals Shoigu and Gerasimov . That would signal the Prighozin made headway and might be part of a deception. I expect there could be a new major Russian offensive in the summer drier season. It is easiest to move military equipment off road at this time. That black Ukraine soil is a mud bog in wetter weather. Another factor was the lack of a winter freeze up that made an offensive harder back then. I have also heard that Putin is concerned The West could move nuclear capability into Ukraine. I think this would be real dumb putting nukes in Zelenskyy's hands, but surely making Russia wanting to take Ukraine sooner rather than later.
Despite all the propaganda, Ukraine cannot win this war, it is only a matter of how badly it ends for them. It is just a shame how many people have died in what is really a US proxy war against Russia. The tanks sent to Ukraine are too little too late and F16 jets won't do much good either as the air defense is strong in both countries, one reason Putin has been reluctant to use the air force.
All politicians are good at deception, but Trudeau is quite a master.
On June 22, Trudeau's Bill C-18 received royal assent and is now in effect. All you hear in the news is about Meta (Facebook, Instagram), Google, Twitter etc., the big social media companies now have to negotiate deals to pay Canadian news outlets to link to material on their web sites. These deals have to go through the CRTC. Just like Bill C-11, a new law previous to C-18. It updated Canada’s broadcast laws, giving the CRTC the power to regulate streaming platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime and Spotify.
The CRTC is controlled by Trudeau's liberal government. These new laws are simply government control of the internet, under the deception they are helping Canadians and Canadian media.
Bill C-18 has been sharply criticized by the tech giants. In response to the passing of the bill, Meta announced on June 22 that it would be pulling all news content from Facebook and Instagram in Canada. Google had also previously warned it could restrict searches for news if Bill C-18 becomes law without changes.
Bill C-18 is trying to get tech giants to pay for nothing more than listing Canadian media organizations with hyperlinks in a search index, social media post, or possibly even a tweet. Why would these companies pay when anyone can get these links for free on the media company web sites? Yes after so many freebies they ask for a subscription to see more, but that does not matter what link you used to access their news. Yes the tech giants will comply, they simply will not provide links so they don't pay. Do you really think Canada is so special that they will pay for Canadian news links but not pay for U.S. news, U.K. news or European news?
Trudeau's Liberals argued that Bill C-18 would help the Canadian news industry, which has seen massive drops in advertising revenue over the past decade. This is their deception, it will actually hurt Canadian news and just give the government more control of it.
Michael Geist, the University of Ottawa’s Canada Research Chair in Internet Law, has said that by “mandating payments for links, the bill creates a real threat to the free flow of information online.” He’s also said that it would harm the competitiveness of independent media and could lead to trade retaliation with the United States.
Mr. Geist also said Facebook’s withdrawal from news in Canada would be disastrous. “Everybody loses,” he said. “This is going to result in tens of millions of losses for Canada’s media and Canadians losing access to services.”
Once again, Trudeau is deceiving Canadians, saying he is trying to help Canadian media when what he is really doing is controlling it. You probably get more unbiased news out of China or Russia now.